Norah Head

Streaked Shearwater

Standing on the dock in miserable weather before a Pelagic trip, birders often reassure each other with the aphorism "The worse the weather, the better the birds". Well the weather could not have been worse this past weekend, and the birds were excellent.

At Norah Head on the Central Coast a female and a juvenile Lesser Frigatebird, two Streaked Shearwater, three Bullers Shearwater, large numbers of Fluttering Shearwater, 4 Short-tailed Shearwater, thousands of Wedge-tailed Shearwater, groups of Sooty Terns totalling around 100 birds, three Australian Gannet, and six Little Tern.

Watchers at Nobby's saw similar birds, as well as a White-necked Petrel and a Tahiti Petrel. At Mistral Point, Maroubra, four Long-tailed Jaegers were also seen, while at Port Macquarie they added a Brown Booby and Arctic Jaegers to the list. Black Noddy and Common Noddy were seen at a couple of loacations. Thirty Bridled Tern and a Roseate Tern were observed at Flat Rock East Ballina, both sightings to be reported to ORAC.

While many of these birds were far out to sea, good numbers were in close, even flying over the coastal roads and circling the parking lots.